Tyson could barely believe that he had been talked into this. He had barely met with either parent and now he was headed to their berth with the intent to pretend like all was forgiven. They had left a complaining Harper back in her berth. She had said he needed to rest, which had been met with loud protestations that he was not, in fact, tired. Regardless, Cameron was firm on the matter and they headed towards Tyson's parents' berth in short order. He wasn't good at subterfuge, but he knew that Alcott was counting on him to get some sort of details.
"I'm sorry," Cameron said, a little oddly in the middle of the hall.
"Um, for what? This isn't your fault," he replied.
"I didn't stop Dashiell from partnering you with Alcott even knowing what happened with Marcus," she explained. "Dashiell, for whatever reason, brought me into his confidence, but I haven't done anything with that information. I thought -I still think- his genetic bill is for the good of the base."
"My father and he only cared about their careers," Tyson replied. "I got out of the public eye for a reason. I thought I had run far enough to get away from my parents' machinations, but apparently, they found me."
"You didn't want to go into cryo?" she inquired
"Absolutely not," he scoffed. "I had a job I loved, kids that I cared for. The Earth I left wasn't... there was a reason my family bailed."
"Then why is Dashiell so insistent on getting information from Earth?" Cameron wondered. "Wouldn't they be upset that he vanished?"
Tyson shrugged. He knew so little about what had led his parent to flee not only the country but the planet. He imagined whatever they were escaping was serious indeed.
Cameron continued down the corridor and knocked at a door. Val opened it, a wide smile forming when she saw Tyson.
"Your father will be so pleased," she said. "Come in, come in. Hello, Cameron."
"I was just helping Tyson find his way," Cameron told her. "I should get back to Harper before he decides to roam the halls looking for me."
"That man of yours is not good at sitting still," Val agreed. "Tell him thank you for his work for the printers. I guess we'll have to find someone else to do that now."
Cameron shrugged and walked back the way she had come. She was a strange person, Tyson thought. Her words seemed so calculated when she spoke like she had considered each one before saying it. He wondered about her history but sternly reminded himself that it was not his business.
"How is it," he began as soon as the door shut; "that the very moment I make friends, Dashiell Turner starts making life harder for them? Alcott is so upset about Levi, and I hate feeling so useless."
"Hello to you too, son," Titus drawled.
He was sitting on the couch drinking a glass of wine.
"So?" Tyson demanded.
Val sighed. "It's so much more complicated than that. Ty, you've only been awake for a couple days. We've only been on the planet for two weeks. This base woke Dashiell four days before the Landing Day Massacre and he said it was like a horror movie. These people are bizarrely innocent; they've never seen tragedy or terrorism. They don't understand loss and sacrifice like we do, they've been crawling in the Dark Ages, just trying to stay alive."
Val picked up her glass of wine and took a sip.
"Now I don't know the whole deal with Levi Hark, but from what Dashiell says, the man is a genius. He knows multiple languages, has a whole library memorized. He knows the old Earth code better than anyone else here. And the base told him none of that was useful and he made the best of it. But now we're taking those restrictions off him and he's balking? Think of him like one of your boys back home, Tyson. You would tell him that trying something new isn't the end of the world, and in fact, he might love it even more because it's letting him live up to his potential."
Tyson didn't think it was very fair to turn his own profession against him, but his mother had always been excellent at turning the tables.
"Botany is important too," he argued, trying to bring the conversation back to Levi. "And I spent a whole morning with Levi my first day. It's not resignation. He loves what he does. He loves that he gets to see results and eat them. Regardless, it's an abuse of power to jerk him into a new position because Dashiell is impatient."
"This base made the rules," Titus pointed out. "We are just following them."
"You're lawyers," Tyson scoffed. "This base never had a chance."
"Oh, like how we never got a chance to explain ourselves to you?" his mother observed. "Gracious me, I suppose we are cut from the same cloth."
"That is not the same thing at all," Tyson snapped. "And I'm trying to forgive you. But when I have to explain phones and the word 'cool' and have to interview to create a whole new sub-department just to keep my job, which no one really understands by the way, I just have a hard time believing that you made the right choice."
"I'll prove it to you, Tyson," Val said. "Once we get those video logs all recorded and transcribed and processed, you'll see what a mess Earth became." She laughed. "It's just like old times. We've moved across a galaxy and we still fight like we did before."
"I guess some things never change," Tyson said pointedly. "Dashiell included. I can't believe after everything he's done, you still support him."
"Well, I don't want to work in builds," Titus snorted. "It's not like this place has a law office where I can earn my keep. Can you really see your mother teaching children or scrubbing ion blades?"
"I'm not sure what you expected," Tyson noted.
Titus sighed. "This base is behind schedule by decades. By the time we were supposed to get here, we had rather assumed that air quality would be a non-issue. And that we would have the vast majority of the populace out of cryo. Without the manpower, this base just ekes out an existence from earthstorm to earthstorm. That partner of Levi's? The depressed one? Before whatever happened she was the primary force building for the future. I wish I could have met her then. I've seen the reports. She's a fireball."
"Dylan has a name," Tyson commented.
"Yeah, I know. I just forgot it. Everyone's named after poets or whatever and I get confused. So you start work next week? Madison get you all squared away?"
"I mean, I have to make appointments," Tyson pointed out. "But yes. Based on what's happened today, I imagine people are going to need it."
He realized he had been pacing in his parent's berth and willed his feet to be calm. Even though they were the only people who seemed familiar in this strange place, he felt more comfortable around Alcott and her friends.
"I need to go," he said, heading for the door.
"You just got here," his mother protested. "I kind of thought you would stay the night."
"I can't," he called, and headed out of the berth.
Tyson should have asked Cameron about directions, but he navigated as best as he could before giving up and fumbling with his holo-rib to call Alcott. It wasn't as complicated as he had imagined and he found her name in his myriad of contacts.
"Tyson! You figured it out! Where are you?"
"In a hallway, lost," he admitted. "Um, I'm at the intersection between black and red. There are berths to my right?"
"I'm in the old section so you'll have to go down black until you get to yellow and then turn into the hallway of berths," she said. "Most people could probably help you if you see anyone."
"Not really," he admitted. "I'll try. I'll call you back if I get more lost."
"I'm coming for you," she laughed. "See you soon."
He walked along the hallway, wondering why they had built this place like a spider web. It seemed oddly confusing.
"Tyson," Dashiell nodded as he emerged from the yellow hallway. "How have you found the base?"
"I think it was better before I realized you were running it," Tyson said. "I'm four light-years away and a hundred years out of my time and you haven't changed a molecule."
"It is impressive," Dashiell admitted with a smile. "I worked hard to be here."
"Oh yes, on the backs of people like Levi," Tyson shot back.
Dashiell's expression darkened for a moment and then he shrugged. "You're partnered with Alcott, it stands to reason that you would find out. Those two are close."
"Do you keep tabs on everyone?" Tyson questioned. "Do you find your paranoia exhausting?"
"No," Dashiell replied evenly. "It's not paranoia, Tyson. There's not enough people on this base to keep any real secrets." His mouth twisted into a knowing smile that Tyson was sure that whatever secrets Dashiell was talking about were about his new friends. He worried they weren't prepared to deal with the former president's machinations.
"Have a good evening, Ty," Dashiell remarked and continued walking down the hall.
Alcott found Tyson a couple minutes later. She looked tired, and Tyson felt guilty for making her having to come fetch him because he couldn't find his way.
"How is Levi?" Tyson inquired.
"Better than the rest of us," she admitted. "I think he's just resigned. I'm really worried about him. And I worry that Dylan or Lully is going to do something stupid, and I can't tell whom I should watch more carefully when I think I'm going to have to watch Anatoly closest of all. Everyone is so angry, but there's nothing we can really do."
"Maybe congress will handle it," he offered. "But you look exhausted, Alcott. We can worry about this tomorrow."
"It's weird that you aren't more tired," she mused. "Levi slept all the time when he first got out of cryo, Esperanza the same way. But you've really not slept any more than a normal person. I wonder if the cryo process is different on Earth, maybe we did something wrong on the Aeneid."
"Do you ever get tired of worrying about everyone?" Tyson questioned. "Alcott, I can take care of myself, I promise. You don't have to mother me."
She smiled, putting a hand on her stomach. "I call it practice," she laughed.
___
Tyson tried. We'll see what happens next...